Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card. While it was developed for the maximum variety of graphics cards in existence at the time of it’s release, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was ultimately designed to be at its very best with AMD/ATI graphics cards.

RCT3 works best when it has access both to motherboard RAM and to graphics card RAM, therefore the best graphics card is one which has on-board RAM (which is no older than DDR2 RAM) and its own on-board CPU to best utilize it’s on-board RAM. It also needs to have a shader and support for DirectX.

The technology between NVIDIA and other graphics cards is completely different and I specifically recommend that if you have an NVIDIA card you only let a trained IT technician update the drivers for it. My research indicates that neither Microsoft (through Microsoft Update) or NVIDIA (regardless what specifications you type in) seem to know when you’re downloading an invalid update and, even worse, your system will not identify the update as invalid until the update installer has problems completing the install at which point the installer will not roll-back any changes it’s made to your system’s firmware.

A system restore or a disk image restore will not help you out of this mess if your system won’t boot after that. If your system comes up after this disaster you might, just might be able to attempt to roll-back the update. In the worst case scenario where your system won’t boot after this the only option you'd have is to take your computer to the shop for repair. If you feel you'd benefit from having your NVIDIA graphics card updated it would be better if you took your system to your IT person and let them update your NVIDIA driver from the outset.

Fast Writes

Fast writes allow the CPU to send data to the Graphics card without that data having to go through RAM. Benchmarking and game-testing has shown the reality of the matter is that enabling fast writes doesn't give all that much of a boost. In RCT3 it can actually decrease performance and create instability.

However, some graphics cards can’t get by without fast writes enabled. If you find your graphics card requires that fast writes be enabled I would only recommend your considering if you can get by with fast writes disabled if your game is laggy & unstable, and if these problems occur regardless if you are in a huge busy park or if you have just opened a small vacant sandbox.

VPU Recover

If the option is available in your graphics card console you’d want to enable VPU Recover so the display driver can reset the graphics processor in the event it stops responding to commands from the display driver. This will enable the display driver to reset the graphics processor on the fly without requiring a system restart.

If for a brief moment your screen seems to be showing some of one frame while still showing part of the previously rendered frame or if you see horizontal artefacts rolling up and/or down your screen, make sure the refresh rates are matched up throughout all the menus/tabs in your graphics card console. This will ensure your graphics card aligns the game-rendered frames in RCT3 to your screen's refresh rate, thus giving you a smoother gaming experience. Also, make sure your 3-D refresh rate override matches the same refresh rate as your desktop refresh rate, especially important for when you play RCT3 in full screen – which I’m sure most of us do almost all of the time.

It’s more economical on system resources if you set your graphics card drivers to use RCT3’s settings for features that are available in-game, e.g., anti-aliasing.

Overclocking

If you are overclocking your machine you’ll do well to remember that RCT3 doesn’t like overclocked graphics-cards and/or CPUs. At overclocking’s ugliest you will get video fallout (whether zoomed in or out), intermittent solid color overlays blocking part or all of your screen, graphical glitches (usually while zooming), and even The Black Screen Of Death leading to spontaneous reboots.

DirectX

Recent Windows operating systems include DirectX by default. Microsoft does occasionally release updates to DirectX which can be obtained from this webpage:

There you will find versions of DirectX that will install on every Windows platform from Windows XP right up to Windows 10. There are also tips and hints on how to fix various DirectX errors and how to find which version of DirectX you have installed.

It is a good idea to update all your DirectX installations to the latest available version, particularly if you are having DirectX issues. If you previously installed DirectX 10, later upgraded to DirectX 11, and have discovered an update to DX10, you should update your DX10 installation. DirectX has been developed in such a way that upgrading DX10 will not downgrade DX11.

Cache & Temporary Files

Some applications such as 3-D modelling programs or website publishers can quickly accumulate vast numbers of these files all of which require engagement of one kind or another from your system which will increase your system’s overhead. It is a good idea to delete temporary and cache files prior to launching RCT3. I have four such applications on my machine and use all four regularly. They are all free:

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CCleaner

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CleanCache

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Glary Utilities Tracks Eraser. Glary Utilities is a moderately sized suite of great system tools.

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Enhance My Vista, another great suite of system tools (Enhance My Se7en was created for Windows 7 but it's a trial version and kept crashing on my installation.)

For a slight increase in system efficiency you could consider updating your BIOS. Do be warned however that when updating your BIOS you should know exactly what you’re doing or you may end up with a BIOS that won't function. Further, if the power fails during a BIOS updating then you can consider your BIOS well and truly bricked.

Home BIOS updating is recommended only if one has access to an uninterruptible power supply in which to plug the computer while the BIOS is being updated. If you feel you would benefit from a BIOS updating you should consider if it might be best for you to take your system in to your IT person so that they may update your BIOS for you.